Ok, so the run did not go as I planned. I originally wanted to land with an over all pace of 9+ min per mile. My first mile was ok, easy and smooth 'till towards the end of mile 1. My right calf began to act up again. Keep in mind, my ankle was not bothering at all. I started to pick up my feet a bit higher and it helped for a bit, but he tightness was still there. I knew Mile 2 was going to be a slow one. There was a reason why. Half way on mile 2 there is a hill that leads to the end of Shore Road, and to a down hill through a 40 mph traffic which drivers usually do an easy 50-60 mph (hey, I am one of them, lol) the down hill is about .20-.30 before you are able to cut through the fence and into the path. There is a safer none thrilling way to do this, but you'll have run over a mile to get to the path. So the thrill here is to take advantage of the red light that is about 2 blocks away giving you some breathing room. What I do is, walk the hill giving the traffic light time to stop traffic. Once that is done, is "like a bat out of hell time" run down that hill as fast as you can before traffic catches up to you.. Today it didn't work out for me that way. I didn't count with traffic coming from Pelhamdale ave making a right at the traffic light.. so I had some cars going in my direction and some driver screaming.. "get out of the F$@#! road, you A-Hole" So while trying to run without tripping over all the fallen branches on the road, I was able to flick my middle finger. Got to the path and I had to take a walk since immediately after that you get hit with another small hill. I walked it and resumed running at the top of the hill till mile 3.
For the first time in my year of running, I had the urge to use the bathroom for #1. Usually I am able to hold it no matter what, but today for some reason I couldn't I got as far as mile 4 before making the decision to stop and use the bushes.. As I was done a pack of walker ladies went by towards New Rochelle. To make things a lot more uncomfortable, I was devoured by mosquitos in a matter of seconds. After mile 5 I saw Joyce drive by towards my parents, so I stated to wave like crazy, but she did not noticed me.
Mile 5 is located by Pelham Bay Park. from there on, is all hill. One very long freaking hill. I decided to take the path running along PelhamBay Prkwy. Big mistake. For starters, the path is horrible, full of bumps and slanted sections. Second; DOGS and their moron owners. In this particular case, I was glad I found one, because the hill was killing me and I used that to walk a bit. However upon catching up to the dude walking a Pit so that I could pass him fast walking, the A-hole saw me and moved the dog to the left, so I moved to the right. As I did, he also moved the dog to the right. I went left, and he moved the dam dog to the left. At that point I began to get annoyed and was about to cuss his ass off, but luckily, there was a NYP officer on the path and as we walked by him, I took the opportunity to pass the guy by going around the cop. Once in the clear, I resumed running.
Mile 6 to 7 was a smooth flat road and downhill at some parts so I was able to keep a pace in the high 7s to low 8s all the way to my parents house. I am not sure why the garmin has a different pace. Oh well, who cares.. I got to my parents and Joyce had a P&J sandwich for me.. yum.. hit the spot.. my parent went out for a run and walk while I took a shower. I found out that the last path before getting to my parents did a number on my right foot.. It now hurts as if it is bruised. It has been feeling better since we got home, but paying close attention to every little thing right now. I don't want anything to go wrong prior to the marathon. How about the ankle? the sucker is doing good.. no pain, no discomfort, well just the usually pain you get from tiredness after a long run. I know 7 miles is not really a long run, but after not being able to do more than 4 miles at a time for 2 weeks... 7 miles felt like a 13 mile run for me today.
Glad I did it, not jumping with excitement over my over all pace, somewhat happy with it. My goal was upper 9s. I guess 10.08 is close enough. :-). Rest till Sunday, when I will attempt a 10 mile and rest from there on 'till Thursday or Friday for a quick 30-40 min easy run. Thank you all for all your support and encouragement, it has been of great help and motivation to me. It is good to have good friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment